The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics is looking for individuals
who:

- Hold refugee status in the UK
- Were involved in academic work (as lecturers or researchers) outside the UK
- Wish to return to academia or related professional work in the UK

CARA offers grants to academics who hold some form of refugee status in the UK and who need to re-qualify or return to university in order to secure employment or continue their research. CARA grants cover expenses such as course, exam or bench fees; associated research, travel and equipment costs; conference costs and childcare expenses.

CARA’s Allocation Committee will meet to review all applications in early September 2006. Applicants will be notified of the decision of the Committee by the week of 11 September 2006.

Because CARA’s funds are limited and it aims to support as many individuals as possible, priority is given to requests from individuals who have not received assistance from CARA before.

CARA staff are happy to discuss potential applications and to provide support to individuals throughout the application process. To learn more or find out if you are eligible to apply for a CARA grant, contact Laura Wintour, Programme Officer, on 020 7021 0884 or at wintour.cara@lsbu.ac.uk

Under dictatorial or unstable regimes, academics are among the first groups targeted for harassment, prosecution or worse. Because of their role as opinion leaders and their influence over wider communities, they are seen as a threat.
The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (Cara) has been helping academic refugees to rebuild their careers in the UK since 1933, when it was launched to aid scholars fleeing fascism in Europe. In recent years, Cara has seen a surge in demand for help, notably from refugees fleeing Iraq, where over 350 academics were killed last year.

To strengthen and broaden the reach of its work, Cara has joined with its US sister organisation, Scholars at Risk, and established a network in UK universities. As part of the network, which has grown to 30 member institutions, Cara has launched the Pathfinder University Grants Scheme, which will help UK universities to fund scholars in need.

Professor John Akker, Cara's executive secretary, says many universities receive inquiries from refugee academics but, due to pressures on university resources and a lack of experience in dealing with such cases, many go unanswered. He says the Pathfinder grant will allow universities to build a system for assisting refugee scholars to restart their academic careers.

"We have cases of very senior academics who have been working as security guards or stacking shelves since arriving in the UK. In most cases, it only takes a small amount of money to turn their lives around or bring them under the wing of a university," he says. "The grants will pull together on a formal basis in each university all the different sections that could help refugee scholars, such as human resources, academic and legal departments, student welfare and accommodation. The aim is to support universities so they can help academics by way of local advice and to prioritise ... the need to help such people."

By helping to get refugee academics back to work, the grant will ensure important research and discoveries are not lost. Of the 3,000 to 4000 academics Cara helped in the 1930s, 18 went on to become Nobel prize-winners, and a substantial number became fellows of the Royal Society and the British Academy, the UK's national academies of science and art.

Cara plans to award about 10 Pathfinder grants in 2006-07, worth £10,000 in total. The deadline for applications is October 26. They should be submitted to Kate Robertson, Cara, London South Bank University Technopark.

Cara also plans to broaden its activities to help scholars escape their home countries. "We have tended to only deal with cases in the UK, although this is now changing," says Akker. "We will try to deal with the most serious cases. We are hoping to help the more important scholars and those most at risk. But it's not an easy thing to do."

The Refugee Academic Project, based a LSBU, is a project started through a fund set up by the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA). They are currently aiming to contact refugee academics to discuss their experiences in the UK. The project will work in three stages:

They are looking to contact refugees who were academics in their country of origin and find out what barriers have kept them from re-entering their field of academics in universities in this country.

Once this information is found, LSBU departments will be consulted to work together to provide the necessary services and close the information gap.

The project will then contact refugees interested in returning to the academic sector and offer them the necessary support for applying to programmes at LSBU and other universities around the UK.

If you know of anyone who may benefit from this project, please forward this information on, and if you would like further information, please contact Sedigheh Keshavarzi on keshavas@lsbu.ac.uk and she will be able to discuss things more fully.

If you would like to refer an eligible refugee academic to us or to
find out further information about the grant system, please telephone
Myrtha Waite or Roisin Joyce on 0207 021 0880 or email us on
info.cara@lsbu.ac.uk

Kind regards

Roisin Joyce
Programme Officer

Council for Assisting Refugee Academics London South Bank University
Technopark 90 London Road London SE1 6LN 020 7021 0885 020 7021 0880
(main line with voice mail after hours)

Please may we invite you to make your voice heard by signing CARA's
online petition in support of Academic Freedom in Iraq
www.academic-refugees.org

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